Originally posted by exocet
I was proud of what I did because I could say, "I made this." If we can impart that thought to new builders, there would be a lot more people building from kits. Just my opinion.
I agree with what you said about the pride. There are two moments in building kits that make it all worthwhile. The first is when the wing is completed, but not covered. Wood wings are just so beautiful! The second is when the plane is covered, and I've just started the trim work. I just get this swelling of pride!
But I question whether we can do anything to get more people to build kits. None of my three kids are at all interested in tools, although they are quite creative in different ways. I know I have a small sample to judge the whole world by, but it occured to me that when I grew up, mechanical things weren't too reliable, and you had to fix them all the time, thus getting a lot of practice fixing and re-building things. Even 15 years ago, you could fix washing machines, cars, dishwashers, etc. My kids are always asking me, "How do you know how to do that?", and I answer, "I don't know, I've just always done stuff like this." But the truth is that me and my father spent decades together using tools to fix things.
Today, mechanical things just don't break down much. Dodge is not a car known for reliability, but my Caravan has 80,000 miles on it and aside from normal maintenance, exactly two things have failed, only one of which a normal person could have fixed. Washing machines just seem to work forever, as do just about all household appliances. Bicycles need a lot of work, but the parts are so expensive it makes a lot more sense just to buy a new one, at least in the under $300 range.
As a result, I suspect that most young folks in the U.S. just don't get any practice or experience with tools. It seems that most of the car mechanics, and the building trades are either older folks or immigrants. I figure the immigrants come from poorer countries where folks still have to fix things. The Car Talk brothers talk about a Mexican mechanic they hired who could fix (rather than simply replace) any part, although I think making an alternator out of a radiator was probably an exaggeration.
Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe when my kids grow up to be an old fart like me, they'll take up modeling. But I wonder...